Distinct tau PET patterns in atrophy-defined subtypes of Alzheimer's disease.

We examined the neurobiological characteristics and clinical progression of these atrophy-defined subtypes. METHODS: The four subtypes were replicated using a clustering method on MRI data in 260 amyloid-β-positive patients with mild cognitive impairment or AD dementia, and we subsequently tested whether the subtypes differed on [18F]flortaucipir (tau) positron emission tomography, white matter hyperintensity burden, and rate of global cognitive decline. RESULTS: Voxel-wise and region-of-interest analyses revealed the greatest neocortical tau load in hippocampal-sparing (frontoparietal-predominant) and typical (temporal-predominant) patients, while limbic-predominant patients showed particularly high entorhinal tau. Typical patients with AD had the most pronounced white matter hyperintensity load, and hippocampal-sparing patients showed the most rapid global cognitive decline. DISCUSSION: Our data suggest that structural MRI can be used to identify biologically and clinically meaningful subtypes of AD. PMID: 31672482 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The Journal of Alzheimers Association - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Alzheimers Dement Source Type: research